Joint poll shows ‘Falklands/Malvinas’ issue is ‘important’ for Argentines, but only ‘relevant’ for Brits

Argentines give more importance than the British to the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty issue, according to the first public opinion on the matter done simultaneously in both countries involved.

A 42% of UK interviews said they would support war to retain Falklands’ sovereignty

Ibarometro and YouGov revealed that for 86% of Argentines the Malvinas issue is ‘important’ while it is ‘relevant’ for 62% of Brits interviewed. However in spite of the difference, 89% of Argentines and 62% of Brits consider their respective countries’ sovereignty claims legitimate and discard the legitimacy of their counterparts.

Support for the way the government of President Cristina Fernandez is managing the Malvinas conflict reaches 56% while that for PM David Cameron from UK public opinion is only 42%. Furthermore 45% of Argentines feel more supported by the international community in the conflict than the 18% for the British.

As to how to solve the dispute, 83% of Argentines favour diplomatic negotiations, but only 37% of Brits support the idea of a dialogue.

Likewise 66% of Argentines believe the Islands should be returned to Argentina while on the other side, 37% feel the UK should retain sovereignty and 28% support an independent Falkland Islands. The idea of sharing the Islands has the backing of 21% of Argentines and 14% of Brits.

“In spite of the divergence, there is a significant confluence point between both countries: the percentage of those willing to support their governments in the war path is a minority: 26% for the Argentines and 42% for the Brits.

In Argentina the poll was done last April 2, on the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the war when Argentine forces invaded the Falklands and involved 1.800 phone interviews from all over the territory, with a 95% confidence level and an error margin of plus/minus 2.3%.

In the UK the poll was done by internet, last April 2/3 involving 1.744 people and covering the whole territory.

Note: Comments do not reflect MercoPress’ opinions. They are the personal view of our users. We wish to keep this as open and unregulated as possible. However, rude or foul language, discriminative comments (based on ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or the sort), spamming or any other offensive or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated. Please report any inadequate posts to the editor. Comments must be in English. Comments should refer to article. Thank you.

It should be noted that where the article says the percentage of those willing to support their governments in the war path is a minority: 26% for the Argentines and 42% for the Brits that actually refers to 26% of Argentines who would support another act of agression, and 42% of Brits who would support a defence against that act of agression.

Prime Minister Thatcher once explained this phenomenon as being due to Argentines being brainwashed from childhood. And I believe she was right. If Argentina were granted proprietorship of the islands, I wonder how many of them would gladly go there and work beside the Brits and as hard as they?

Do you think before you talk? For the record, I don't believe Argentina should get the islands back while the population there does not desire any change in their jurisdiction.

But Argentine Patagonia has a far harsher climate (more continental with far colder winters and hotter summers), than either the Falklands or the Chilean side of Patagonia that hugs the Pacific... yet IT is by far the more populated of all three regions. But lets not allow the facts to get in the way.

As for the survey, I can tell you as someone well-versed in languages, that it is probably flawed. Relevant does not hace the same connotation in Spanish as it does in English. In English, something relevant is worth serious consideration. In Spanish it merely has the notion of just of enough weight to be worthy of discussion, but could be brushed aside. It is less strong. A word closer in strength would be significativo (significant).

They should have added some notes about the history of the islands to test people's knowledge of them, and then asked the questions i.e. 75% of people who think they should be Argentine also believe the islands are populated by Non-English speakers It would be nice to be sure the opinions of people considered are those who actually know a bit about the islands before giving their opinions.

......and, when polled in the Falklands, 99% of people said it was CRITICAL that the Falklands remains British..........That is probably the only statistic and opinion that is relevant, important and significant.

The poll didn't include me or several dozens of my aquaintances; all of whom are definitely and coldly aggressive for what the Islanders want. Distance does not equate with the freedoms of people. Else why the United Nations?

Another pointless poll, all it shows is this isn't the number one priority in the UK, sure if Argentina invaded it would be but the UK has a lot going on and things like economic matters are far more in peoples minds at the moment.

1 Troneas
I think you have missed the 89% figure. This shows your government has stirred your passions in recent years and fed you propaganda. Prior to the war, and the Argentine aggression, the only mention of the Falklands I'd heard was the return of the world's first iron hulled ship the SS Great Britain to its home in Bristol, England in 1970. It was left rusting on a Falklands shore. The Falklands did not figure in our mindset until Argentina did the dirty.

It's interesting and necesary to know bout the opinions of people from both sides, but this is evident that both have a very basic knowledge about this conflict. I had read this article in an argentine newspaper.
Perhaps both people dont know that the u. n has never asked the u. k to transfer the sovereignty of the islands to argentina, in the same way that it neather invoked the right to self determinations for the islanders, nor expressed that the sovereignty must be discussed only if the islanders wish it. All the resolutions have always called both sides to resume the negotiations and find a peaceful solution, however politicians from both countries always commit omissions or some times distort some aspects which are related to the legal and historic aspects of the conflict, when they reffer this dispute. Maybe that's why both people discard the legitimacy of their counterparts.

Politicians often deliberately seek to manipulate their audiences for their own ends. CFK has done it on the Falklands issue just like Tony Blair did it on the weapons of mass destruction that were never found.

Because the Argentine public has been fed with propaganda by successive governments and not historical facts about the Islands they feel a great injustice is being done. If they had been given a clear historical facts then perhaps they would not feel so hard done by.

The Falklands sovereignty issue is not relevant to the British as there is NO issue.

However, the Argentinians should be aware that any attempts to invade the Falklands, terrorise their people and steal their land would become THE most important issue to the British people. To the people of Argentina, remember the cost of the folly of your government in 1982. Nearly 1000 servicemen killed on both sides, leading to a humiliating defeat for Argentine forces.

Get on with the real facts,
The islands are British, and Argentina or its deluded bloggers have no claim whatsoever,
And you will never get them,
So do us a favour and give the decent argentine people what they rightly deserve,
A real democratic government, that puts their interest first, and forget the Falklands .

British people are not very patriotic (corporatism and PC done to that).

Where-as Argentina is fanatically nationalistic, which worries everyone in the neighborhood it's is a train crash waiting to happen, the carriages have already left the track and fanatical groups are tapped into the KFC power base, in the same way the SA was tapped into the Nazi Party!

The average Brit was (sadly) more per-occupied by X factor and other reality tv than the Falklands... one year ago. Today that has changed thanks to the hate coming out of Argentina, now everyone I know wants to bomb Argentine! I noticed on facebook today the link for new friends, when i clicked on it every other person on it seemed to have the Falklands logo as their facebook picture on it coloured by the union flag, the further i scrolled down the fewer of these people had any mutual friends, in other words there is an awakening on the issue happening in the UK... a massive awakening.

In Argentina the Malvinas occupy the waking thoughts of the a large number of the most fanatical of fanatical nationalists (like yourself) NOT HEALTHY, NOT NORMAL. Most of your people are very poorly educated and more any more are radicalising themselves via self indocrination fround on the internet and replicated easily amongst groups via facebook and social media.

It would be like a large percentage of Britain being made up of EDL members constantly dreaming of owning large parts of France, based on a claim made 200 years ago by a Brazilian who spontaneously decided to claim parts of France for Britain and celebrating an invasion by a fascist military government who previously had murdered tens of thousands of their members. Argentina is nuts - the normal people have been silenced, or radicalized.

More and more people around the world are finding out about Argentine hate and its claim for other peoples land.

Idlehands...She is not really a demented nationalist obsessive. She is a demented power obsessive. Otherwise I agree with your comment. Her next step (sometime in the next few months probably) will be to change the constitution to allow her to be reelected for a third term. Or forever, like Chavez. She uses the Islands issue in a blast of sheer demagoguery.

I think this 66% of Argentinians who think the islands should be returned to Argentina is not very real. I haven't met any argentinian who doesn't thinks that the islands shouldn't be returned.

And of course that the issue is ‘important’ for Argentines, but only ‘relevant’ for Brits, I am not surprised. For the Brits is only another far away land where they have taken resources from, one more on the list, there are 16 COLONIAL PLACES remaining in the world and the UK holds most of them.

Not surprising more Britons than Argentines would support military action (26% for the Argentines and 42% for the Brits). Any British military action would be defensive/retalitory, whereas Argentine military action would be unprovoked aggression. Most educated Argentineans know that an attempted invasion would fail. Despite this, 26% would still support an invasion.

Though it's encouraging to see a higher proportion of more considerate Argentines than I would have imagined, going by the rhetoric of the majority of Argentine posters on this site, I wonder what the figures would have been like if Argentina had the military capability to achieve its wishes by force.

Personally, pre 1982, I would have been inclined to cede some territory to Argentina and share resources, purely as a good will gesture and to end their tiresome squabbling. However, going by their past and current behaviour, it would be very difficult to trust Argentina not to renege on any deal. I'd expect them to use any ceded territory as a base of operations for mass colonisation or military action. Maybe in the future, when their constitution is altered to reflect reality, and their rhetoric changes, the people of the Falkland Islands may trust them. Unfortunately I can't see that in the foreseeable future.

That's either because you're lying or because the only people who know are as insane as you.

I'm conversing with Argentines all the time who believe the Falklands should have the right to determine their own sovereignty. In fact the numbers are astounding, on one facebook page for supporters of the Falklands the Admin posted that there were 569 members listed as living in Argentina. I'd say that's quite a few going out of their way to a page that isn't even that friendly to their countries government to give their support.

I've also been reading some of the posts on the political opposition sites in Argentina but I've noticed that outside of the CFK support people generally see the Falklands issue for what it is, same shit, different face.

I have met many Argentines who don't believe the islands should be Argentine. How is it that you haven't? Maybe you live a very sheltered existence shielded from outward looking people. Do you travel much? Trans-continentally I mean.

Commenting for this story is now closed.If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!